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Saturday, 21 March 2015

Alexanders flowers.
The sun hasn't yet brought out their scent but hoverflies, bees and wasps are exploring them already.

I doubt it's acceptable to say I'm fed up with green. But I am. I've been enjoying the starkness of winter; all those silhouettes. And although it's quite nice to see the little hawthorn leaf buds opening I'm feeling world weary enough to think 'Oh, them again.'. And for me to say 'Oh, them again' about hawthorn buds shows the depths to which I've sunken. They are beautiful; delicate and bright. But just at the moment, it's 'Oh, them again'.

Hoverfly (Eristalis tenax) on Alexanders.

For my Stuck Foot Post I stood by Alexanders. People unfamiliar with them have said they'd be interested in knowing more. So I stuck my foot by a row that stretched away into the distance and looked to see what I could see. The plants by my foot were about two-foot high. Some on the other side of the path were much taller. By summer they will be four foot or higher.

There were more than Alexanders. There was fennel and the beginnings of Herb Robert (or one of those other plants whose leaves all look like geraniums except smaller). There were dandelion leaves and an open daisy. But apart from the daisy, everything was green. A mass of leaf by leaf, stem by stem green in a long, long, long, long, glossy green row. So I went with it and excluding all others, stuck to Alexanders for this post. If you can't beat it, join it. And having joined it, it's quite pretty really.

Alexanders Rust (Puccinia smyrnii) on a leaf.
Sometimes it looks disgusting.
Sometimes, as here, it looks interesting enough to become attractive in its own right.

Have you Stuck Your Foot somewhere recently? Stood for a moment without moving except for a slight sway or twist?

The stripy stems of Alexanders are so beautiful they make even me-in-a-bad-mood smile.

And if I can get myself to phone someone to fetch my laptop and mend it maybe I'll not feel so 'Oh, them again'y. But I'm currently stuck on that too. My laptop works sometimes. It's working now. At others it doesn't. But there's something special about the connection between an individual and his or her computer so I miss it while it's gone. And I keep postponing that call. I can borrow a friend's. But to use another's is as if I'm intruding on someone's heart.

Logic will reassert. When there's something more than green - when the blackthorn's in flower here as it is in other places . . . when white gives a break from incessant green (along with those occasional and irritatingly brash splashes of daffodil yellow and the cheeky primrose yellow of . . of . . . of primroses) maybe then I'll look more kindly on green. (Oh, what a grump!)

Meanwhile, how about Sticking Your Foot somewhere and staying there long enough to see what you can see without moving? . . . And share your post in the link box below?

The box will be open from 7am on March 21st and stay open till 7pm on the 25th (UK time).

If you'ld like to know more about Stuck Foot Posts and the dates for Stuck Foot Link Boxes

Friday, 20 March 2015

There will be a Stuck Foot Post Tomorrow. It will open at 7am and stay open till 7pm on 25th March. Do join me in 'Sticking Your Foot' in one place and, without moving, see what you can see.

I went to two places. One comes along with the box. But I'm going to spread the others over a series of 'Wordless' posts.

They were all taken from the same spot on a narrow path on a crumbling cliff that runs down through blackberry bushes, small trees and reeds to the sea. Further along, there's a badger sett. Hence its name - 'The Badger Path'.

All pictures in the series were all taken on 19th March 2015.
This is Number 2 - Looking Under the Alexanders.
Number 1 is Red Leafy on the Badger Path

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Documenting the seasons of coastal Dorset. I'm a complete amateur and don't know a great deal. I try to be accurate but mistakes will creep in. Don't trust that I'm always right and if ever you see I'm wrong - whether with identifications or in anything else - do say!